A Tasty Sauce…

I’m here. Really I am. I missed you on Monday. I’d like to say I had too much fun at a Cinco de Mayo celebration to blog, but such is not the case. The reasons are many as to why I didn’t get on here to say hello. But I will say that I’ve got a recipe or two for you today.

The weekend:

I had a great weekend. The weather here has been phenomenal. According to the news, Washington was the hottest state in the country on Monday and Seattle was hotter than Phoenix. Now, that’s amazing! The thermometers in one small town near me peaked at 94°. Those kind of temps are a little too warm for me, at least in this neck of the woods due to the humidity. So anyway, about my weekend. It was filled with early morning walks with the Healthy Hubby, a wedding, some time in the kitchen and LOTS of time on the deck. Remember last week, my post about Vitamin D? Well, I took some of my own advice and stocked up. If only we could store the sunshine in our bodies — or, really, what I would like to be able to do is store the heat.

With Sunday being Cinco de Mayo, I decided that my twist on TexMex would be the perfect menu. We served up mushroom and pepper soft tacos — or fajitas, whatever you want to call them — salad, fresh tortillas, and homemade tomato salsa (with just the right amount of jalepeno this time). It was a feast perfect for two! I forgot my sombrero, however. I ate my fajitas more in the form of a salad because I wanted more salad greens than would fit on my tortilla.

Tasty Sauce:

There’s a restaurant that is regionally popular in Oregon. It’s called Cafe Yumm!. I love that place. Actually, I’ve only been there twice — once in Eugene and once in Bend. But I love the Yumm Bowl. It’s sort of like a Buddha bowl with a Mexican twist. The reason these meals in a bowl are so yummy is because of the sauce they put on top. It’s literally called “Yumm Sauce.” I have looked at the recipe online and unfortunately it’s got a TON of oil in it. So I was inspired to create my own. I did. I combined my version of Yumm Sauce — which I’m calling Tasty Sauce because of the trademark on the other name — with salsa to top off my fajita salad. I think you’ll agree it looks good. And it tasted pretty darned good too. You can click on the picture below for the recipe.

Earlier in the day (like, waaaaay earlier) Healthy Hubby and I had gone on our Sunday morning coffee date that we’ve been doing now for over ten years. I was inspired by an iced “tea” that I had to create one of my own. This cool and refreshing drink doesn’t really have any tea in it, but I suppose because it’s steeped fruit and herbs we can call it tea. All I did was brew a berry blend that I have at home until it was very strong. I then added ice to the pitcher and more ice to my glass. No sweetener, nothing else. It was what I needed on a hot day. I think it might also be good with a slice of lemon or lime!

In addition to a beautiful planter that my neighbor gave to me so I’d have flowers for Mother’s Day, I bought two hanging baskets for the front porch from the youth group at church. They are gorgeous. I learned, however, after last year’s flower thief got away with one of them. My wonderful husband zip-tied them to the hanging brackets. I thought it was a great idea. It will at least slow down anybody who thinks they’ll just snag them off the porch when we’re not looking!

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. I think we are settling in to the emptiness of the house with Alex gone. We do hear from him once in a while through letters and phone calls and it seems that he is doing well. It will be odd this year to have him gone for both Mother’s & Father’s Day as well as his birthday. Now, there’s a first in parenting for us. I guess we get the cake to ourselves, huh?